Monastic vs. Secular — What's the Difference?

Of, relating to, or characteristic of a monastery. Used often of monks and nuns.

Worldly rather than spiritual

Secluded and contemplative.

Not relating to religion or to a religious body; nonreligious

Strictly disciplined or regimented.

Not bound by the full monastic rule of a religious order. Used of clergy.

Self-abnegating; austere.

Relating to or advocating secularism.

A monk.

Occurring or observed once in an age or century, as games in ancient Rome.

Of or relating to monasteries or monks.

Lasting or persisting for a long time

A person with monastic ways; a monk.

(Astronomy) Of or relating to characteristics of astronomical phenomena that change slowly over time.

A monk.

A member of the secular clergy.

Of or pertaining to monasteries, or to their occupants, rules, etc., as, monastic institutions or rules.

A layperson.

Secluded from temporal concerns and devoted to religion; recluse.

Not specifically religious; lay or civil, as opposed to clerical.

A male religious living in a cloister and devoting himself to contemplation and prayer and work

Temporal; worldly, or otherwise not based on something timeless.

Of communal life sequestered from the world under religious vows

(Christianity) Not bound by the vows of a monastic order.

Happening once in an age or century.

Continuing over a long period of time, long-term.

(literary) Centuries-old, ancient.

Relating to long-term non-periodic irregularities, especially in planetary motion or magnetic field.

(atomic physics) Unperturbed over time.

A secular ecclesiastic, or one not bound by monastic rules.

A church official whose functions are confined to the vocal department of the choir.

A layman, as distinguished from a clergyman.

Coming or observed once in an age or a century.

Pertaining to an age, or the progress of ages, or to a long period of time; accomplished in a long progress of time; as, secular inequality; the secular refrigeration of the globe.

Of or pertaining to this present world, or to things not spiritual or holy; relating to temporal as distinguished from eternal interests; not immediately or primarily respecting the soul, but the body; worldly.

Not regular; not bound by monastic vows or rules; not confined to a monastery, or subject to the rules of a religious community; as, a secular priest.

Belonging to the laity; lay; not clerical.

A secular ecclesiastic, or one not bound by monastic rules.

A church official whose functions are confined to the vocal department of the choir.

A layman, as distinguished from a clergyman.

Concerning those not members of the clergy;